Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer — While he is still facing charges in Wisconsin, a Stevens Point, Wis., man was sentenced for burglary charges in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Daniel Allan Erickson, 29, was sentenced to the 254 days in jail he had already served for possession of a burglary tool.
When he pleaded guilty to the charge in December, he told Gogebic County Circuit Judge Michael Pope he had a lock pick in his pocket when he was arrested in Ironwood Jan. 17, 2017.
He pleaded guilty to the charge as part of a plea agreement that had several other charges — breaking and entering a building with intent, two additional counts of possession of burglar tools and possession of a dangerous weapon — dismissed at Tuesday’s sentencing.
Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs told the Daily Globe Wednesday he chose not to pursue the breaking and entering charges in the case because the prosecution’s main witness was Daniel Ferguson — who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his June escape from the Gogebic County Jail.
Jacobs said Ferguson’s information came from before his escape, but he felt the escape and resulting prison sentence no longer made Ferguson a credible prosecution witness in the case.
While Erickson won’t serve any additional time for the charges against him in Gogebic County, his attorney Doug Muskett said he remains in custody at the Iron County Jail awaiting sentencing on Iron County charges.
Erickson pleaded no contest to burglary-related charges in Iron County Court in December and is expected to be sentenced on those charges later this month.